Jackfruit Biryani (Faux Mutton Biryani)

Born into a family of vegetarians I am totally clueless about the flavors of meat of any kind and hence I used to wonder what makes people to have cravings for meat. So I have been looking for vegetable substitutes for meat, and then started trying out the most popular meat-based recipes like biryani, kebab, kurma, etc. using those vegetable substitutes. Earlier I used fleshy soy meat for making biryani. Lately, I came to know that raw jackfruit is a better substitute than textured soya for its fibrous meat-like texture and mildly sweet flavour, and I have tried jackfruit biryani.

When raw jackfruit is cut into large chunks and used along with flavorful spices, it is almost impossible to differentiate the meat & raw jackfruit even by the die-hard meat lovers. Hence it is largely beneficial to people who switched to vegan diet to satisfy their cravings for meat.

Raw jackfruit Vs meat:

• Raw jackfruit is an inexpensive produce that can be used to replace almost any type of meat.
• It is super easy & super fast to cook this vegetable compared to meat.
• Since raw jackfruit recipes have less calories compared to meat recipes, it is useful for people on the weight-loss diet.
• Raw jackfruits are easily digestible than meat.
• It is a lot more easier & cheaper to grow jackfruit trees than raising livestock in a farm.

Jackfruit biryani (palakkai biryani) recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Basmati rice – 1 cup
2. Water – 2 cups (400 ml)
3. Any neutral oil – ¼ cup (50 ml)
4. Bay leaf – 1 No.
5. Star anise – 1 No.
6. Cashew nuts (mundhri) – 15 Nos.
7. Raisins (dhratchai) – 25 Nos.
8. Onion – 1 No. (large)
9. Tomatoes – 2 Nos.
10. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
11. Red chilli powder – 1 tsp (I used Kashmiri chilli powder here for its vibrant red color)
12. Salt – 1 tsp

For marinade:

1. Raw jackfruit (palakkai) – 1 No. (small)
2. Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
3. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
4. Salt – ¼ tsp
5. Lemon juice – 1 tsp

For biryani masala:

1. Cinnamon stick (pattai) – ½” piece
2. Cloves (krambu) – 6 Nos.
3. Green cardamom (yelakkai) – 2 Nos.
4. Ginger – 1″ piece
5. Garlic – 10 Nos.
6. Shallots (sambar vengayam) – 20 Nos.
7. Mint leaves – a handful

Mise en place:

• Peel the skin of raw jackfruit and chop roughly into large chunks.
• Sprinkle chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and lemon juice over the jackfruit pieces.
• Toss them together and set aside for at least 30 min until marinated.

• Wash rice & soak in 400 ml of water and set aside.
• Slice onion lengthwise & dice tomatoes.

• Grind all ingredients for biryani masala into a smooth paste without adding water.

How to prepare jackfruit biryani:

• Heat a heavy bottom pressure cooker with oil in medium flame.
• Add bay leaf & cinnamon stick and fry for 5 seconds.
• Add sliced onion, cashew nuts and raisins.
• Sauté until onion slices turn translucent.
• Add turmeric powder & red chilli powder and fry for 10 seconds.
• Add diced tomatoes and ground masala together.#
• Add salt (¼ tsp) and sauté until they turn mushy & oil begins to ooze out.
• Now add marinated chunks & salt (¼ tsp) and sauté until they are soft & infused with masala.
• Pour water used for soaking into the cooker and bring it to a boil in high flame.
• Add soaked rice and salt (½ tsp).
• Close the pressure cooker and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• When the pressure is released, pour (1 tsp) of ghee over the cooked rice and close the cooker for 5 min allowing the aroma of ghee nicely permeated into biryani.
• Mix gently with a wooden spatula.
• Transfer to a hot casserole.
• Serve spicy juicy biryani with raitha.

#If we add tomatoes & ground masala (like ginger-garlic paste) together, the moisture in tomatoes prevents the masala stick to the pan.